


Three Inches

by FluffyGremlin



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-09
Updated: 2011-11-09
Packaged: 2017-10-25 21:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/274938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FluffyGremlin/pseuds/FluffyGremlin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the following prompt:</p><p>Mike's fascination with that V of skin that shows whenever Harvey takes his tie off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It really shouldn’t be as exciting as it is. Three inches, give or take. Just three little inches. Three inches of skin in a place that’s totally not salacious and yet it take all of Mike’s restraint to not stare at the little triangle of flesh. The reason is that those three inches of skin belong to one Harvey Specter. Buttoned up attorney. Best closer in New York. Stylish and suave. Never went anywhere without being perfect.

Except Harvey’s not perfect right now. He’s obviously tired after several very long days and now he’s sitting in his expensive chair behind his expensive desk loosening a tie that probably cost more that Mike made in a week. Mike could hear the silk sliding through the collar as Harvey pulled it off and rolled it up in a neat little coil. The younger man swallowed past a lump in his throat as he watched Harvey stretch his arms behind his back, tilting his head this way and that so that the lines of his neck were screaming for Mike’s attention. Harvey sighed and pushed one long-fingered hand through his hair. That was the moment Mike realized he was going insane.

He was staring as his boss slowly rolled up his sleeves and his fried brain was going to all the worst possible places. He was staring at his very male boss and thinking very dirty thoughts and most likely going straight to Hell. Do not pass Purgatory. Do not collect $200.

It wasn’t until he heard a sharp whistle pierce the silence that he shook himself out of his over-active thoughts.

“Wake up, puppy,” Harvey says in a low voice as Mike’s eyes darted away from the point where his shirt opened. “Keep that brain of yours functioning for just a little while longer.”

“I’m fine,” Mike lies. He fidgets a bit in his seat before turning his attention back to the briefs he was busy comparing before his boss’ adam’s apple had distracted him. “Laryngeal prominence,” he muttered to himself as he tried to find the last place he could remember reading.

“What’s that?” Mike glanced up through his eye lashes and could see Harvey gracing him with his trademark smirk as he sat back. Mike just shrugged as he looked back at the brief. The words swim across the paper and he has to close his eyes tightly at the impending dizziness.

“Michael…” Harvey’s voice takes on that warning tone he uses when he pretends he doesn’t care.

“Just a headache,” Mike says quickly, stretching his neck a bit before he opens his eyes and forces the words back into their preordained positions. “You do realize I haven’t been to my apartment in almost 2 days, right? I got, like, an hour of sleep at my desk this morning before Louis showed up and that’s it. I don’t even want to look at a clock right now because it will only… depress… me. What are you doing?”

Mike forgot all about the brief as he watched Harvey push himself out of his chair and stalk around the desk. The older man moved so that he was standing just behind Mike, close enough that he could feel the warmth from the other man’s body. He jumped when he felt Harvey’s hands settle on his tense shoulders.

“Easy, kid,” Harvey leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Relax.”

And all Mike can do is comply, letting his head fall forward as Harvey’s thumbs begin press into the muscles along his neck. He can feel him working the knots out one by one, pressing harder with each stroke until Mike gasps and sighs in relief and then moving to the next. Mike closes his eyes and allows himself to give in for just moment… and then he realizes he is really turned on. Really turned on. So he does the only thing he can think of. He rambles.

“Did you know that the people who live the longest get at least six to seven hours of sleep a night? And lack of sleep can more than double your chances of cardiovascular disease. Lack of sleep also leads to reduced… umm… performance… in, uh… high-level cognitive functions.”

“What did you do, read a Wikipedia page?” Harvey had moved his hands away from Mike’s neck and was now working along his shoulders, causing Mike to lean forward slightly out of an unconscious desire for him to keep moving.

“Yes.” The answer came out far more groan like than Mike had intended and he could feel Harvey tense up behind him. But his hands kept moving. “The founder of the Stanford Sleep Research Center once said the only reason we need sleep, that is solid, is that we get sleepy.”

“Mike, shut up. No more blah, blah, blah.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” There was that tenseness again; a subtle shift of Harvey’s hips that Mike could just catch out of the corner of his eye. “Boom! Bonk bonk on the head!” Mike whispered, closing his eyes again only to have them snap open when Harvey moved out from behind him. He looked up to see the older man staring at him with his head cocked to one side.

“You watched Star Trek.” It wasn’t a question but Mike still felt compelled to nod. “Because you knew I liked it.” Another nod. Mike valiantly fought the urge to squirm as Harvey looked at him with the same intensity he stared down opposing council. Harvey stared at him for so long that he wondered if perhaps the older man really was a T-800 in a Tom Ford suit.

“Go home,” Harvey said finally. Mike was about to launch a token protest but the yawn that escaped instead ruined the effect. “Get some rest,” Harvey called after him as he rushed out of the office as quickly as possible with half a hard on. “Tomorrow morning we’re nailing this guys balls to the conference room table and tomorrow night we’re going out for a drink.”

That got Mike to pauses at the doorway long enough for him to turn and see Harvey smiling at him widely.

“We need to discuss Trekker versus Trekkie before you start spouting off quotes during foreplay.”

"I... What?!"

"Good night, Mike."


	2. Another Inch

“I thought you said we were going to a bar.” Mike idly loosened his tie slightly as he stood beside Harvey at the entrance of one of the best restaurants in lower Manhattan. Harvey glanced over at him and promptly smacked his hands away, straightening his tie and pulling it a little tighter than Mike felt was necessary.

“I changed my mind,” Harvey said as he worked. “I decided it was time to teach you how to wine and dine prospective clients.”

“So the Specter School of Seduction is in session then,” Mike quipped as Harvey nodded at the maître d’. The short man smiled widely before guiding them through the busy restaurant to a small table in the back corner.

“This isn’t about seduction.” Harvey leaned in close to whisper in Mike’s ear as they followed. “This is about fine dining and hushed conversations resulting in big retainers.”

Mike just huffed in response as he took his seat.

“Besides,” Harvey continued, looking over his menu at Mike with a smirk on his face,” if I wanted to seduce someone they wouldn’t realize it until it was too late.”

“You do realize this menu doesn’t even list prices,” the younger man said with a false bravado. Harvey just rolled his eyes and began to lecture Mike on the importance of red wine and rare steak.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike tried to focus on his far-too-expensive salad but movement from Harvey’s side of the table caught his attention far too easily. The other man, busy on an “important phone call”, was moving his wine glass side to side, just enough so that the rich red wine was moving around in tiny eddies. The movement stopped almost as soon as Mike’s full attention was on him and Harvey’s hand began moving up the crystal, slowly sliding along the stem and up the rounded curves of the glass before reversing course at the same agonizingly slow speed. Each pass grew shorter and shorter until his fingers were only moving along the stem in a manner that made Mike wonder if Harvey knew some Vulcan mindtrick that made the most perverted thoughts possible pop into other people’s heads.

Mike forced himself to look away when he heard Harvey’s voice get a bit louder. That was a sign that the call was almost finished with Harvey making one last push or threat or promise. The younger man focused on his own wine glass instead. He had only taken a token sip of the expensive red with its fancy French name and now it was taunting him with the promise of fuzzy indifference and a morning-after headache. He glanced at Harvey one last time as he picked up his glass and saw the other man wink at him as he promised the person on the other end of the phone the world on a platinum platter.

Is it considered chugging if you do it politely?

“Ahem.” Harvey was staring at Mike as the younger man set his now empty glass down.

“Good wine,” Mike said softly before clearing his throat and picking up his fork to poke once more at the salad in front of him. There were flowers in it. What kind of a person sees a flower and thinks ‘I want to eat that’?

“I’ve had better,” Harvey said in his usual offhand manner. He grabbed the bottle and refilled Mike’s glass, being a bit more free with the crimson colored suspension than the waiter had been. “So,” Harvey continued, “How’s… that girl you were dating?”

“Her name is Jenny and you almost seem like you care.”

“Of course I don’t care. I’m just making conversation and making you think I do.”

“In that case, she met someone else. He’s a computer genius, apparently. And a weight lifter. It’s kind of gross actually; his shoulder is all…” Mike waved his hand at the general area where normally proportioned people’s necks meet their shoulders.

“What happened?”

“Oh, you know the story -- girl meets boy; girl modifies boy's subroutines.”

“Voyager? Really? No.”

“But…”

“Just, no.”

“This is where the adventure is. This is where heroes are made. Right here... in the wilderness.” Harvey only tipped his head to the side in a show of distaste. “I have an appointment with eternity, and I don't want to be late?”

“I am retracting your internet permissions.”

“A. You’re a Star Trek snob. B. It’s too late; Wikipedia and I are late night lovers.”

“If you turn to Wikipedia late at night when you can’t sleep then there is a problem.”

“I like to let the porn finish buffering before I watch it.” It was the sort of remark Mike was used to making around Trevor and he only realized his mistake when Harvey’s perfect eyebrow starting a gravity defying trek up his perfect forehead. “I mean…”

A subtle shake of Harvey’s head stopped Mike’s train of apologetic thoughts just as the waiter magically appeared with their steaks, tutting over Mike’s apparent dislike of the salad and negotiating with Harvey over the next bottle of wine. Mike was so focused on his steak and the prospect of getting drunk on Harvey’s dollar that he hadn’t realized the older man was watching him.

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Jenny,” Harvey said softly.

“Do we have to have the talk about you not caring again?” Mike asked, still looking at his plate and stabbing his potato with a little more aggression than was truly necessary.

“Mike…” Mike looked up and met Harvey’s eyes. “I do care about some things.” Mike held Harvey’s gaze long enough to feel like Something Major was occurring before the other man looked away. Fighting back a grin, Mike drank his wine and ate his steak and listened intently as Harvey began yet another lecture on Things Mike Should Know.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Did you know that ancient Romans used to eat raw owl’s eggs to help their hangovers?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about hangover remedies until you stop being drunk.” Harvey rolled his eyes as Mike leaned into him but instead of pushing him away, as Mike expected, the older man actually put one arm around his shoulders while his other hand was busy digging out his phone.

“I’m not drunk,” Mike protested. He attempted to stand up straight before quickly deciding that the laws of physics had taken a vacation.

“Right,” Harvey replied. He looked away from Mike long enough to send a quick message to Ray. When he turned back he found his associate’s face much closer than it had previously been.

“Normal people are fond of personal space,” he said in as firm a tone as he could manage.

“Yes,” Mike nodded sloppily, “But we’re not normal people.”

“I am perfectly normal,” Harvey said as he pulled his head away from Mike’s as far as he could without letting go of the younger man. “You are perfectly drunk.”

“You think I’m perfect,” Mike giggled. Had he not consumed the majority of two bottles of fine red wine he probably would have been embarrassed with himself. As it was, he was fairly disturbed at the thought trains currently running circuits around his brain and the fact that his mouth was currently tied to the tracks.

“No, I think you’re delusional.”

“I think…” Mike paused. He fought to straighten up again and only managed this time because Harvey slid his hand down his back to keep him upright. “I think… I’m drunk.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike groaned as he forced his eyes open and found the New York skyline staring back at him. A New York skyline that did not belong to the tiny apartment he called home. The couch he was currently laid out on didn’t belong to his apartment either. He pushed himself up and immediately regretted it as the room swam before his eyes. He dropped his head between his knees and took several deep breaths. Then he heard someone chuckling at him and, as he was fairly certain he hadn’t been abducted by some super villain, he kept his eyes shut instead of facing his highly amused boss.

“I figured you’d be passed out more than twenty minutes,” Harvey was saying from somewhere to Mike’s left. “If I knew you’d wake up so fast I’d have left your Royal Lushness at your own apartment instead of risking my rug.”

“Royal Lushness? That’s lame, even for you.” Mike lifted his head and was relieved when he could actually focus on the person speaking to him. Maybe he was kidnapped by the Joker afterall.

“You say that like I make lame jokes on a regular basis. I don’t. Now behave or I won’t give you this glass of water.”

“I’d rather have Scotch.” Mike leaned back and left his head fall against the back of the couch. He closed his eyes and took a moment to revel in the quietness of a drunk mind before he remembered whose couch he was lounging on. He cracked open one eye and saw Harvey watching him with an indescribable look on his face. The other man had taken the time Mike was passed out on his couch to change out of his suit and into what Mike refused to refer as “jeans” and a “Tshirt” only because his brain couldn’t wrap itself around the idea of Harvey in jeans to begin with. He let his eyes drift over the casually dressed lawyer and would have probably blushed if the wine hadn’t already taken care of that for him.

“I think you’ve had enough alcohol for tonight,” Harvey said lightly, his expression shifting into his usual smirk. “Poor Ray nearly had a fit when he thought you were going to throw up in the car.”

“I’m not that drunk,” Mike protested.

“Not anymore,” Harvey countered. “Losing consciousness for twenty minutes can be rather sobering. Not that you’re sober by any means… lush.”

“You’re the one who kept filling my glass. I think you were just trying to get me drunk so you could have your wicked way with me.”

“As if I need you drunk for that to happen.” Mike opened his mouth to protest on his ego’s behalf before his brain caught onto what Harvey didn’t say.

“So you’re not denying that you want to have your wicked way with me.”

“Am I the mustachioed villain in the movies that play in your head?”

“Sometimes.”

“You worry me.”

“That’s because you care.” Mike watched Harvey out of the corner of his eye and was surprised when the usual retort wasn’t forthcoming. Closing his eyes, Mike took a deep breath before standing up slowly and walking over to stand in front of Harvey’s chair. The other man watched him warily.

“Harvey…”

“Don’t,” the older man said brusquely.

“No, I’m going to do this now while I can still blame it on me being drunk in case it turns out to be a really bad idea.”

“It’s already a b…”

Mike cut off Harvey by surging forward, leaning over the still seated man and bracing his hands on the back of the chair as he pressed a kiss to his still open mouth. He forced his eyes to stay open until he felt Harvey reciprocate and then it took everything he was not to just drop onto the other man’s lap as the kiss continued. He leaned in further when the other man began to pull away and was only stopped when Harvey placed one hand firmly on his chest.

“Look at me,” Harvey said. His voice was gravely and commanding in a way Mike had only ever imagined late at night and he couldn’t help but obey, opening his eyes and focusing on Harvey’s.

“We’re not doing this now.” Mike opened his mouth to protest only to have the hand on his chest push slightly in a way that made him want to stay silent. “We aren’t doing this right now,” Harvey continued, “because when we continue, and we will be continuing, I don’t want you to be able to blame any form of mind altering substance the next morning.”

Mike could only nod, biting the inside of his mouth to stop himself from arguing. Harvey smiled up at him and let the hand he still had resting on Mike’s chest to ghost over it in a manner that made the younger man shudder.

“Drink some water,” he said firmly. “Get some sleep. On the couch,” he added when Mike perked up at the thought of being in Harvey’s bed. “Luckily for you, your magnanimous boss is willing to allow you to take tomorrow off.”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday,” Mike frowned down at the older man.

“Or I could have you start prepping for Monday’s meetings.” Harvey moved his hand again, this time ghosting it lower onto Mike’s stomach.

“Have I mentioned you’re the best boss ever?” Mike grinned as he straightened up, grabbing the bottle of water sitting beside Harvey as he did so. His grin only got wider when Harvey allowed himself to smile back.


End file.
